The Dragons of Rhelawen

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

The girls' mannerisms were odd, especially for peasant folks. I did not trust them, to put it blatantly. Summer time was the most difficult time to find game in the forest, for it was all hunted already. It was especially odd to have amounts fit for sharing with random passerby.

"Finnegan, we should not trust them," I whispered, but he looked so happy at the aspect of food. "We can find some other food; do you not find this situation a bit fishy?"

"What is the worst that could happen, my lady?" He whispered back. "Let us just take a small chance."

I shook my head as he followed the girls deeper into the heart of the forest. I ran after them too, grabbing the sword and holding it for security. If anything would go wrong, I would fight. As I always do.

The girls led Finnegan and I to a small cabin, with a large dining area outside. The food was spread out, and I had to admit, was tantalizing. Every possible type of food I could imagine during the long trip was sitting on the table, but I forced myself not to look. This absolutely had to be some sort of trap.

The shorter one introduced herself as Seraphine; the taller called herself Gwendolyn. Both were too welcoming, much two sickly sweet to be legitimate Samaritans. Not one single person in all of the kingdoms could be so welcoming. Finnegan dug in to the mountain of food immediately and I watched him eat.

Finnegan must have been famished. I pretended to eat some, simply to be nice, but the girls urged me to eat more. Again, I faked eating it. Seraphine and Gwendolyn stood patiently and watched us eat from the other side of the table. They cleared the empty plates off slowly, letting Finnegan eat as much as he could. My stomach rumbled, but I pretended not to feel it.

"We should really begin to go," I told them politely. "Thank you very much for the wonderful meal."

Finnegan groaned, a sound I had not heard him make yet. "Can we stay a bit? I need a rest."

Sure enough, he looked extremely drowsy.

"No," I whispered, "Finnegan, we have to leave, now."

In response to my command, he shut his eyes and started snoring. Immediately, I started panicking. Was he drugged?

If he was falling asleep, the two girls would expect me to pass out, also. Instead, I leapt up. "What did you do to him?" I demanded as Seraphine grabbed the pan containing the turkey and ran inside.

Gwendolyn smiled her innocent smile. "Nothing, dearie, he must have been simply exhausted! How dare you work the fellow out so much as that?"

I shook my head. "He was fine just a minute ago! We only took a rest."

Gwendolyn stepped forward, still smiling. Her voice was irritatingly calming; as if I listened to it too long I would fall asleep. "It is all alright, dearie."

As soon as she said that last phrase, I felt a sizable pain on the top of my head. In only a second, everything went black.

I woke up in a small stone chamber. It was swelteringly hot, and my head throbbed painfully. I seemed to be sitting in a small metal pan; any skin that had touched the metal had turned an angry red color. I looked behind me in an attempt to determine where I was.

Finnegan was sitting right behind me in another pan, and I noticed a fire burning a ways behind him. He was still unconscious, but I noticed how he did not have a single burn or blister on him.

The pain was overwhelming, but I dragged myself out of the pan and half- crawled, half- scooted towards Finnegan. Since the burning fire was closer here, it was considerable hotter. I could feel the blisters on my arms becoming larger.